I've just opened an account with the Coventry Building Society. As proof of ID to open it, they wanted (among other things) either a utility bill, council tax bill, or a bank or bldg society statement. Whatever, it had to be from within the last three months.

Now some of my utility bills are in my wife's name (for the very reason that she also needs to provide such documents sometimes), and all the others were > 3 months old. The council tax statement was back in March. And here's the crunch :- "STATEMENTS PRINTED OFF THE INTERNET ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE".

Fortunately, I have old-fashioned paper bank statements and provided one of those.

So this morning I logged on to the Coventry Internet banking for the first time, and what is the first thing I see :-

"Why not go paperless ?"

Unfortunately, they did not provide a field for a reply.

Unsolved mysteries of the Universe, No 13 :-
How many remakes of Anna Karenina does the World need?

It's cunning plan. Not only do they save money under the guise of being environmentally responsible, but they also lock you in. Without a paper statement, they make it more difficult for you to open an account elsewhere

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (Albert Einstein)

We recently changed our current account from one type to another, same bank we have been with for 20+ years.
Due to new regs, we had to prove who we were, and that we lived at the address that they have been sending junkmail to for the last 20 years.

I was fine, but my wife, who doesn't drive, has never been in the armed forces, and didn't have a current passport at the time, was stuck.

We don't have paper bills or statements any more, (and some banks and companies now charge extra for paper ones, which considering they send us loads of junk mail which used to come with the paper bill, is a bit rich)
Was a national ID card such a bad idea?
After all, what does a bill from a utility company prove?

The sig between the asterisks is so cool that only REALLY COOL people can even see it!

One online tech-toys site I will not name got in a tizz over my ID and decided they needed to verify I am who I claim to be. Sending the product ordered to the registered address of my credit card was not enough for them. They demanded that I email to them a photo of either my driving license or my passport. A photo of a bank statement or utility bill would be good too.

I assumed this was a scam so I phoned the number on their web site to ask how I could unlock my payments, but it turned out to be genuine. Yes folks, they actually demanded, in the name of security, that I place an unencrypted facsimilie of my passport in the tender care of the Internet. Truly awesome, and as an INFOSEC cockup to be surpassed only by leaving it in a laptop on a train.

wyliecoyoteuk wrote: my wife, who doesn't drive, has never been in the armed forces, and didn't have a current passport at the time, was stuck. .......... considering [some banks] send us loads of junk mail which used to come with the paper billWas a national ID card such a bad idea?

I am one of an apparently tiny minority who favoured ID cards. Cameron ridiculed it with his "Show ze papers pleez" in a Gestapo accent, but having no ID card system does not stop everyone asking for your papers anyway, in fact you need to produce more.

My sister-in-law, like your wife, had no passport or driving licence, and all the utility bills were in her husband's name. To open a bank account she had (among several other kludges too complex to explain) to obtain a provisional driving licence, although she will never drive in her life. This is a ridiculous situation, brought about by people who cannot imagine anyone living a life style different from their own (drive everywhere, jet everywhere, holiday in the Med, live on Twitter and Facebook) or that if they do, they shouldn't, and are somehow disreputable.

Regarding the greenwash about paper, I was annoyed when I bought an expensive SLR camera to find its instruction book was of paper so thin and poor (but "recycled" they boasted) that I would hesitate to employ it in the toilet. Yet every day I receive junk mail (for wine clubs, cruises, hearing aids, insurance) printed on high quality glossy stuff; right now my waste bin is stuffed with it.

Unsolved mysteries of the Universe, No 13 :-
How many remakes of Anna Karenina does the World need?

To be fair, this isn't the fault of the finance houses - it's our beloved Department of Homeland Security (AKA Home Office) who decided it would be a good wheeze to stop terrorists, health tourists, money launderers, ... (fill in any other group you dislike) using any of our faciltiies.

Some time ago I had an account with a UK bank and wanted to upgrade to a student account. The bank said my newly-acquired student ID would do as proof of eligibility, so I went to a branch and let them fax it in. A few weeks later I 'phoned to ask how the upgrade was progressing and was told it had stalled because the student ID was insufficient. The next few banks I tried refused to accept my provisional driving licence (obtained by the usual lengthy process involving a pair of recent photographs signed by an Upstanding Member of the Community) as proof of identity. They would, however, have accepted a full licence (obtained by passing a driving test and sending off the provisional licence).

My response was to take a walk along the nearest high street and open an account with the first bank that would have me. I'm still with it 13 years later.

johnhudson wrote:To be fair, this isn't the fault of the finance houses - it's our beloved Department of Homeland Security (AKA Home Office) who decided it would be a good wheeze to stop terrorists, health tourists, money launderers, ...

Not to mention a good way to persuade good people "with nothing to hide" that a national ID card would be a good thing.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (Albert Einstein)

I don't see any harm in the principle of a national ID card. It is not a "you MUST" thing but an "It will be easier and you can do more if..." thing, like having a phone number, email address, driving license, passport, credit card, etc. etc.

for example roads and cars don't grow on trees, they have to be built and managed, there is no natural right to drive a car down a public highway. I am privileged to do this. There is nothing illegal about my taking my car for a drive and leaving my licence behind. But if I am stopped by the police and they wish to confirm I have this privilege, I will have to flog in next day to the nearest police station and show them my driving licence. It's my choice that I wish to take advantage of the privilege offered by a service provider and, in practice, to carry my driver's ID around with me, I don't have to.

but I am not sure the Government should issue ID cards as such. Better to define a standard, and allow any card maker to conform to the standard.

P.S. @NelzThis forum highlights "licence" as a spelling mistake. Don't lecture us on spelling if you can't even configure your software to spell properly.

My software is configured properly, which is why it does not show licence as wrong. I think you'll find the spell checking is done by your browser, not the forum software (not that that is mine anyway). Your locale is probably set to en or en_US.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." (Albert Einstein)